Join us for “Usquebaugh” at PIE 2018

I was sitting here counting the cars in Neutrogena’s parking lot when I got a note from Mike Bigbee reminding me that we are hosting an elite whisky tasting event at PIE this year. Mike and I have selected four unique tastes from the homeland of usquebaugh, the “water of life” as it is known and will be serving it up along with stories about whisky and our experiences in Scotland.

This event will be during the “Death by Parking” party Tuesday night at PIE. We have cordoned off a special area and will have only those who have purchased a ticket in attendance. It won’t be cheap, but it will be worth the money.

Stories about whisky abound. Two of my favorites surround Laphroaig and Glenmorangie.

Laphroaig is a rough and tumble whisky. It is distilled on the Island if Islay, in the Irish Sea of the northwest coast of Scotland. The barrels are aged in warehouses that are right up against the sea. Storms and high tides send spray around the warehouse and the salty, iodine taste of the ocean surround the casks and over the years seep through to the whisky. If you like Laphroaig, you are said to have a very perverse taste. You will get to experience it at our tasting at PIE.

In my early years of whisky knowledge, I was offered a taste of a private label whisky put up by an insurance company in the UK. The crusty old Scot who was sharing the malt asked us if we could identify it (from the over 200 different scotches available). I told him that the only whisky I knew was Glenmorangie.

“My God, Man,” he grumbled in his wonderful brogue, “My mother lives across the Firth of Fourth from that distillery. Do you know they make it in a Quonset Hut?” I have never tasted Glenmorangie since. Neither will you at PIE.

There will be more stories about how whisky is made, why most of the distilleries are located off the beaten path, and we will tell you all about the “Angel’s Share.”

There are a very limited number of tickets available. You can purchase them as you register on line, at the registration desk at PIE, or at the door at the “Death by Parking” Party, if any are still available.